This invention relates generally to automatic riveting devices, and more particularly to an automatic blind or pop riveting device having an automatic rivet feed means.
Considerable technological effort has been expended in developing blind or pop or mandrel-type rivets, hereinafter collectively referred to as blind rivets, and the associated manually operated devices for setting such rivets. The primary requirement for setting blind rivets is to support the enlarged flange of the rivet body against an anvil or rivet table with the rivet body inserted through a closely mating hole in a work surface. The mandrel extends axially through the rivet table and is gripped by jaws which tension and pull the mandrel rearwardly, expanding the body of the rivet to a point where the mandrel is fractured away. Thus, blind rivets are particularly useful in situations where a conventional riveting tool does not have access to both sides of the working surfaces to be rivet-connected together.
What appears to be a second stage in the development of blind rivets has been toward the automatic setting of the rivet wherein a source of power such as a motor, a pneumatic actuator, or hydraulics, are utilized to replace manual effort in expanding and setting the rivet through mandrel pull.
This riveting technology has also expanded into the development of automatic riveting devices which include an automatic feed means for the rivets themselves. Prior to such development, the user has been required to manually insert each fresh rivet into the rivet table, one at a time. Because these devices still require the user to depress an actuator or trigger to set each rivet, these devices are referred to as "semiautomatic" rivet machines having an automatic feed.
The bulk of these automatic feed rivet devices fall generally into two categories. The first category is one wherein the nosepiece and/or rivet table is pivotally or arcuately connected wherein these components swing apart radially outwardly from one another so that a new rivet may be passed forward longitudinally from behind this arrangement into position, whereupon the nosepiece and/or rivet table components are closed around the rivet body and mandrel with the flange of the rivet against the distal end surface of the rivet table.
The second general category of automatic rivet feed means is directed to an external arm arrangement which swings or pivots a fresh rivet into coaxial alignment forwardly of the rivet anvil and then either automatically draws or allows the rivet to be manually moved rearwardly wherein the mandrel enters the longitudinal aperture of the rivet anvil.
Despite this considerable effort and incentive in developing such an automatic feed rivet machine, nonetheless no such devices known to applicants have been marketed successfully to date. Proper and reliable functioning appears to be a shortcoming of all known prior art devices. Obviously, the market for such a device is extensive, reaching from space station deployment, through both light and heavy industry and aircraft assembly, all the way to the home enthusiast. In each case, the need for a high volume rate of setting blind rivets is the desired end result which has, to date, remained unsatisfied.
The present invention provides such a device which in prototype and preproduction form has operated successfully and reliably to date. This invention offers fully automatic rivet feed means and an accompanying riveter which will set rivets automatically as quickly as an operator can act to position each new rivet into another hole in the work surface. Additionally, the power source for this invention facilitates the setting of extremely large, heavy-duty rivets, as well as smaller lighter-duty rivets without altering the configuration or sizing of the power source.